Both consumer and commercial packages of paper material such as bathroom tissue or toilet paper and paper towels are typically provided in a long web or sheet having lines of perforation at regular or semi-regular intervals which divide the long sheet into a plurality of smaller sheets that can be easily separated and used individually or in small sections or aggregations. These sheets have traditionally been prepared in rolls which are wound upon a tubular or cylindrical inner core member made from cardboard or other suitable material. The rolls are conveniently supported during use on a rotatable spindle which is inserted through the cardboard core and then attached to a holder device, or other types of holders such as a stationary chrome plated rod can be used. The inner core member has a regular or even inner surface on which the roll can be rotated on the spindle or other holder to dispense the perforated sheets of paper one or several at a time for use as needed.
Recently, there has been a growing trend towards elimination of inner cores or tubes from bathroom tissue and paper towel rolls. This trend is being furthered by environmental groups who view the elimination of cardboard inner cores or tubes as a green or environmentally friendly way to save paper and help prevent unnecessary destruction of forests. It is estimated by one paper company that 17 billion cardboard toilet paper tubes are produced yearly in the United States, which accounts for approximately 160,000,000 pounds of trash. Elimination of the inner cores also presumably saves manufacturers costs in purchasing the cardboard tubes and gluing the paper to the tube or about the tube.
Although paper rolls can be wound so tightly that the center hole is virtually eliminated, most consumer packaged coreless paper roll products are wound more loosely so that a central hole or aperture is still defined by the innermost convolutions of paper, which center hole may be somewhat smaller than traditional cored rolls but is still large enough to receive a conventional spindle or other support to hold and dispense the paper. During packaging and/or shipping, the paper rolls are packed and compressed very tightly together. While such tight packaging eliminates the empty space in the central hole, and therefore substantially increases shipping efficiency, a drawback of compressing the rolls is that numerous folds or indentations are formed in the walls of the center hole. As a result, when a roll is removed for use the center hole is no longer circular, and is often permanently deformed. Prior to inserting and passing a paper holder spindle or other support through the center hole, one therefore must manually or with the aid of a small tool manipulate the roll to try to open the compressed center hole and form it into an at least somewhat circular shape, which is difficult and time consuming. Unfortunately, due to the permanent creases and indentations in the crushed paper roll material, it is nearly impossible to make the center hole or orifice substantially round again, so that when the deformed roll is placed on and supported by a spindle, as the individual sheets are dispensed the roll will tend to unroll in a bumpy or uneven fashion. In addition, upon passing the spindle into and through the raggedy center hole, it is very easy to tear and essentially render useless the innermost layers of the roll, particularly if a standard spindle, which are known to have one or more sharp edges that will easily catch and tear the soft, delicate paper material, is used. While paper towels are more durable, the standard width from end to end of a paper towel roll is more than twice that of standard bathroom tissue, which increases the opportunity for tearing as a holder is passed into the center hole. This can lead to a substantial waste of paper in each roll, particularly in the aggregate, not to mention causing substantial distress to consumers, thus offsetting the advantages of coreless rolls and decreasing their attractiveness to consumers.
Recognizing the problems associated with the provision and use of coreless or tubeless rolled paper materials such as bathroom tissue and paper towels by consumers, the present inventor provides a coreless paper roll core replacement tool and method of use that can be used to quickly and easily expand the center hole of even moderate and severely crushed coreless rolls and mount the rolls on a reusable core apparatus without tearing or damaging the innermost convolutions of paper, essentially replacing the conventional paper roll inner core. Once the reusable core apparatus is inserted through the center hole, a spindle or other conventional paper holder can then be passed through the center of the core apparatus. By using the inventor's core replacement tool, sheets of paper material can be dispensed from the roll with the roll turning on a spindle against the smooth even inner surface of the support apparatus rather than the jagged and uneven center hole of the paper roll. That the replacement core is reusable eliminates all of the drawbacks of coreless paper rolls without adding any further waste or requiring new types of paper holders, and in at least one embodiment can also be used equally with rolls having an inner core.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,386 issued to L. E. Weinert discloses a method of forming a central aperture in a coreless paper roll, but does not address the problem of using the roll after the central aperture is crushed during packaging and shipping.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,935 issued to J. R. Moody discloses a paper roll support spindle apparatus having inner and outer spindle members, and a tab that projects outwardly from the outer spindle and engages with a spindle mounting element when the roll is turned, preventing more than the desired amount of bathroom tissue from unwinding from the roll. Moody assumes the outer surface of the spindle is pressed tightly against the coreless roll central aperture, but does not address the problem of passing the spindle into the aperture without tearing the innermost convolutions of the paper.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,762 issued to H. A. Reinheimer et al. discloses a semicylindrical adapter or receptacle onto which a coreless roll is placed and supported as it is turned to dispense the product. The adapter is secured to a conventional paper roll mounting device, thus providing a different solution to mounting coreless rolls.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,985 issued to S. L. Phelps et al. discloses an auxiliary holder by which a conventional holder for cored rolls is converted to hold coreless rolls. Phelps provides a mounting structure having an attachment means comprising a pair of rounded knobs that penetrate into depressed areas in the ends of the roll. The Phelps et al. holder is designed for use with commercial paper roll products or those where the paper is wound so tightly that a conventional spindle cannot be passed through the center of the roll, which is not the case with most consumer paper roll products.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0210199 filed by J. Sinsabaugh discloses a reusable insert for supporting coreless rolls comprised of a rigid hollow tubular body. Despite having an inwardly tapered end section the Sinsabaugh insert is still difficult to pass through a coreless paper roll without tearing the innermost sheets of the roll, due to the pointed end corner or edge of the tapered section. As a result, the center hole of the roll must be manually opened more carefully and to a greater degree to use Sinsabaugh's insert, which is time consuming, difficult and generally frustrating since it will usually take at least several attempts to properly mount the insert without damaging the roll.
Thus, there remains a need for an reusable core replacement device for use particularly but not only with consumer packages of coreless paper rolls such as bathroom tissue paper, paper towels, and other rolled materials, that can be quickly and easily passed into and through the central aperture space of a coreless paper roll without requiring substantial preliminary manipulation of the roll and without damaging the innermost layers of the rolled material.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.